Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Build the actual foreign-service timeline
L-1 requires the qualifying continuous foreign employment year within the relevant three-year period, assessed under the applicable counting rules. Obtain the employment and leave dates and locations so the reviewer can evaluate the case without treating a payroll label as conclusive. For ordinary L-1A, the qualifying foreign year may be managerial, executive or specialized knowledge; the U.S. role must be primarily managerial or executive. U.S. days do not count toward the foreign year, though brief visits do not automatically interrupt continuity. The qualifying foreign employment must be full-time.
Examine the job after the return
The US position must be primarily managerial or executive, supported by actual duties and staffing or a managed function. A returning employee’s historic seniority does not establish the proposed role. Identify who carries out operational work and which decisions belong to the manager.
Keep the organization eligible throughout
Prove the qualifying corporate relationship and continuing US and foreign business through the qualifying group. A new office needs sufficient premises and capacity to support the L-1A role within one year; initial new-office approval is limited to one year. A new office means the U.S. organization has been doing business for less than one year. New-office L-1A specifically requires the qualifying foreign year to be managerial or executive, with the U.S. role supported within one year of approval.
Show a management job rather than ownership alone
The petitioning entity and the foreign employer must stand as parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, and affiliation through common ownership must be shown with the registers, shareholder agreements and any trust or holding arrangements that establish it. The disputed point is almost never whether a foreign company exists; it is whether that company still provides goods or services on a regular, systematic and continuous basis. An executive directs the management of the organization, sets goals and policies, exercises wide discretion and receives only general supervision from a board or shareholders. In a service operation the honest question is what proportion of the day is spent directing staff or functions and exercising discretion, and what proportion is spent doing the technical work personally. A branch and a subsidiary can each satisfy the requirement for a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate relationship, so the choice turns on tax, liability, and administration rather than on immigration considerations alone. Supervising a group of employees who are not professionals does not by itself make a person a manager; the analysis looks for management of an organisation, department, subdivision or function, supervision of other supervisors or professional staff, and authority over hiring, firing and daily operations. For an owner or major stockholder, also address temporary U.S. services and a subsequent foreign assignment; ownership alone does not establish that evidence. Personnel management rests on supervising and controlling professional or supervisory staff; function management rests on managing an essential function at a senior level without necessarily supervising anyone.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.